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Biography

There are two artists with this name:

1) William Blake (November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827) was an English poet, visionary, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake’s work is today considered seminal and significant in the history of both poetry and the visual arts. He was voted 38th in a poll of the 100 Greatest Britons organized by the BBC in 2002.

According to Northrop Frye, who undertook a study of Blake’s entire poetic corpus, his prophetic poems form “what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language.” Others have praised Blake’s visual artistry, at least one modern critic proclaiming Blake “far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced.” Once considered mad for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is highly regarded today for his expressiveness and creativity, and the philosophical vision that underlies his work. As he himself once indicated, “The imagination is not a State: it is the Human existence itself.”

According to The William Blake Trivial Biography, Blake’s poem Jerusalem was set to music in 1916 by Charles Parry to beef up British morale during the bleakest days of the First World War. Despite the unorthodox theology of the words it is now one of the most popular hymns in the English language.

2) A singer born in Dallas, Texas. At age 19, he began working professionally as a vocalist in such notable places as Bill’s Hideaway, Alexandre’s, Sambuca, Cosmo Rouge, and Phases